Abstract
This study was undertaken to measure the impact of fertilizers (nitrogen-potassium) on the growth and the development of plantain banana. Different doses of fertilizers (T2, T3, T4, T5 and T6) were applied to two hybrid varieties (PITA 3 and FHIA 21) and a traditional variety (CORNE 1) on an experimental split plot plan with a planting density of 2500 plants per hectare. Results showed that fertilizers improve parameters of plantain than control (T1). T6 with high potassium content (240 kg·ha−1 N and 987 kg·ha−1 K) improved the growth (35.72 ± 0.95 cm·month−1) and the widening (9.56 ± 0.17 cm·month−1) of PITA 3, and performed FHIA 21 agronomic parameters by reducing the length of the production cycle and increased the length of fruits. T2 treatment improved FHIA 21 agronomic and yield parameters. Also, the weight of CORNE 1 regimens (9.00 ± 0.67 kg) and fruits (296.59 ± 4.50 g), the length (33.37 ± 0.31 cm) and the circumference (14.73 ± 0.31 cm) increased with T2. T4 induced shorter production cycle of PITA 3 (390.40 ± 0.67 cm·month−1), improved PITA3 regimens weight (10.33 ± 0.44 kg) and the number of hands by regimen (6.00 ± 0.00) of FHIA 21. T3 with weak nitrogen content (120 kg·ha−1 N and 658 kg·ha−1 K) improved the characteristics of PITA 3 fruits notably, the weight (176.09 ± 2.96 g) and the circumference (13.87 ± 0.89 cm). T5 (240 kg·ha−1 N and 329 kg·ha−1 K) performed CORNE 1 trees number of sheets (3.85 ± 0.16). CORNE 1 cycle production with T6 treatment was 137.80 days longer than those of T2 treatment (483 ± 3.50 days). In conclusion, with T2 and T6, growth parameters were globally improved in FHIA 21 by the regimen largest and the higher number of fingers, and productivity parameters were improved in CORNE 1 by the heaviest, the longest and the thickest of the fruits.
Highlights
Among cultivated banana, plantain constitutes a homogeneous group with cultivars whose genome is triploid and bispecific (ABB)
Nitrogen and potassium are especially recommended for plantain cultivation [11] as opposed to phosphorus requirements [12]. [5] showed in a recent study that for an intensive crop (2500 plants·ha−1) of plantain (CORNE 1, FHIA 21 and PITA 3), the doses of 240 kg·ha−1 (N) and 658 kg·ha−1 (K) are recommended which were opposed to those previously proposed by [3] with 100 kg·ha−1 (N) and 240 kg·ha−1 (K)
With a height growth of 35.72 ± 0.95 cm·month−1, the fertilizer T6 induced significantly (p ≤ 0.05) a gain of 9.34 cm·month−1 of height in PITA 3 compared to T1 (26.38 ± 1.28 cm·month−1) and T5 (29.74 ± 0.50 cm·month−1) which induced the lowest height in the same variety
Summary
Plantain constitutes a homogeneous group with cultivars whose genome is triploid and bispecific (ABB). Plantain fruits are staple food and important cash crop for many developing countries. It is important for food security [1]. With a production of 1.6 million tons, the plantain crop ranks third in annual food production after yam and cassava in Côte d’Ivoire [2]. It is a means of diversifying and increasing income, due to the external markets that are developing [1]. The low crop density (1667 plants·ha−1 to 2500 plants·ha−1) has long led to low yields [3]. Since 2016, the crop density has increased to 2500 plants·ha−1 for traditional varieties CORNE 1 and Orishele and hybrids PITA 3 and FHIA 21 [5]
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